April 6, 2024, would have been my father's 100th birthday as he was born this day in 1924, in St. Elmo and spent the majority of his life in Chattanooga. As I remembered his life this morning, I thought of his generation's sacrifices and their commitment to solid values of faith in the Providence of God, love of family (and willingness to sacrifice for family and others) and a strong sense of personal responsibility. It seems appropriate to take a moment to reflect on the qualities embodied by the generation referred to as "the greatest generation" by news anchor Tom Brokaw and others.
The "greatest generation" did not always enjoy the privileges and comforts that have become common to many today. They grew up during the Great Depression and jumped into World War II as very young men and women. Some remained in the military and served again later in Korea. They sacrificed personal comfort, educational opportunities perhaps, personal safety, and some even life itself, for causes they believed in and supported.
My paternal grandfather died unexpectedly when my dad was 13; not surprisingly, this 13-year-old kid went to work delivering newspapers and later delivering groceries on his bicycle for a neighborhood grocery to help his family. He enlisted in the Army immediately upon graduation from high school and served 42 months in the China-Burma-India theater of operations. Upon return to Chattanooga, he went to work and then earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Chattanooga, as UTC was known at the time - he did utilize the GI Bill for assistance as was the intent of the program and as he had earned through his military service, but he did not expect a free ticket to college.
He and my mother became formally engaged in 1947 but worked and waited for two years until they could afford the wedding they wanted. He served the Lord and our church as a deacon for many years and supported his family without thinking of doing otherwise, consistently "being there" for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren until he died at the age of 90. He even put aside investment money he made to provide the first year of college for each of his grandchildren. It never occurred to him to do otherwise.
In this era in our country in which divisiveness, greed/ "me first" thinking and the apparent abandonment of personal responsibility have triumphed, it would serve our nation well to look back at the legacy we received from the "greatest generation." I sound like an old man lamenting change but I think we could improve our lives a great deal by emulating the lives of those who lived as the "greatest generation."
Tim McDonald